Phelps, Speedo Establish Youth Foundation
Warnaco Swimwear’s Speedo division made good on its promise to Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and paid him a$1 million bonus for his record-setting performance during the recent Beijing Summer Olympics.
Speedo endorser Phelps won eight gold medals and broke Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record of winning seven gold medals during a single Olympics.
Phelps is using the bonus to help establish the Michael Phelps Foundation, which will help educate children using various programs, some of which will relate to swimming.
The first move of the foundation is an eight-city tour that will take Phelps and Speedo across the country. Phelps will share his Olympic experience with children in hopes of inspiring them and setting them on a path to achieving goals.
“Speedo has been proud to support Michael as he reached for his dreams throughout the years. We congratulate him on this truly historic accomplishment in Beijing and look forward to supporting him in this new endeavor,” said Joseph Gromek, president and chief executive officer of Warnaco, the licensee for Speedo in North America.
Gromek said Warnaco and Speedo International will donate an additional $200,000 to the Michael Phelps Foundation. With his experience in Beijing and his performance in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Phelps now owns 14 gold medals.
Phelps has been a longtime Speedo endorser. He and other Speedo swimmers wore the company’s LZR racer body suits, highly technical swimwear developed with the help of NASA. Swimmers who wore the LZR set more than 35 world records this year.
For more information, visit www.speedo-usa.com. —Robert McAllister
